23rd January, 2015
Harrison Ebosetale
Four persons, including a secondary school student were killed Friday morning at Ketu in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria when a 40ft container fell on two commuter buses picking passengers on the highway.
P.M.NEWS gathered that the container which was being carried by a trailer fell on the buses while trying to manoeuvre its way from the parked commuter buses whose drivers were accusing each other of hitting their vehicles.
A witness at the scene who simply gave her name as Olabisi, disclosed that while the drivers were still arguing over who was guilty of hitting each other, the trailer carrying the 40ft container which was on its way to Ikorodu stopped and in an attempt to manoeuvre its way from the two buses, the container accidentally fell on the two buses, killing four commuters instantly.
Among those killed was a woman with her baby strapped to her back.
Olabisi appealed to the state government and the police to act quickly and stop commuter bus drivers from stopping on the expressway to pick passengers.
“These commuter bus drivers are fond of stopping on the expressway to pick passengers at Ketu. They know it is illegal but they keep doing it. The state government and the police should act fast to stop these drivers and stop the incessant accidents on the road. Today’s accident wouldn’t have happened if those buses did not stop on the highway to pick passengers,” she stated.
The accident caused traffic gridlock on both sides of Ikorodu road before officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, arrived the scene to clear the wreckage. The corpses were evacuated to the mortuary by health officials of the state government.
The accident also brought to the fore the issue of containers not being properly strapped to trucks conveying them, thus causing fatal accidents on highways in Lagos, while law enforcement officers look the other way.